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I am currently Chair of the Alliance of TMD Organizations which represents multiple groups involved in treatment of TMD. When we contacted the TMJ Association they had no interest in working with us to better the health of all TMD patients. The following is directly from the website of the TMD Alliance.

Alliance of TMD Organizations Fundamental Principles

Founded in 1995 on behalf of patients’ well-being, the Alliance of TMD Organizations’ mission is to support and protect the right and freedom of clinicians to practice in the field of TMD within the scope of their care, skill, judgment, and scientific information.

The Alliance of TMD Organizations has been created to represent the broad interests of professional organizations and their member practitioners who understand the importance of effective diagnosis and treatment of cranio-oro-facial disorders.
1. The Alliance of TMD Organizations supports ethical and professional patient centered care.

2. Treatment should be based upon individual patient needs.

3. TMD and associated facial pain disorders/diseases may encompass physical, functional, cognitive, and psycho-social factors all of which may contribute to patient’s symptoms and complaints. Dental occlusion may have a significant role in TMD; as a cause, precipitating, and/or perpetuating factor. Any or all aspects may be taken into consideration when developing diagnoses and treatments accepting that TMD and associated co-morbidities including other pain disorders may be multi-factorial in nature.

4. Diagnoses and treatments should be based upon scientific information in conjunction with the skill, knowledge, and judgment of the providing clinician within the scope of their care.

6. The diagnosis and treatment of TMD should be considered an emerging science accepting that approaches for diagnoses and treatments may change based upon scientific evidence, clinical evidence. Reasonable standards of care should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of all head, neck and facial pain.

7. Efforts should be made to allow for continuity of care between multi-disciplinary health care providers.

8. Although not gender specific, TMD symptoms and associated pain disorders are gender biased and found to be reported predominately in females.

9. Since TMD and associated pain disorders are by nature gender biased affecting a significant portion of the female population, they should also be considered a women’s health issue.

10. Third party payers should not discriminate based upon gender, body part, location of symptoms, specific dysfunction, or professional degree of the licensed health care provider.

These 10 basic principles were developed by the majority of the representatives of TMD Alliance members.

I understand that Ms Cowley the founder of the organization was the victim of a surgical disaster but her organization actually disuades patients from care that could improve their quality of life.

I believe that if the TMJ Association is really vested in the best interest of all patients then the TMJA should accept the offer to work with the TMD Alliance and its member organizations.

This is an open invitation to the TMJ Association it to work with the dentists who treat TMJ disorders, the individual groups that further the scientific aims of those groups and with the TMD Alliance that represents the intrests of patients with TMJ Dysfunction.

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